News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Tuesday, Nov 28th

Posted on November 28, 2017 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

-For the latest Hoops HD Report, which recaps a very busy week in college basketball and previews the week ahead – CLICK HERE

-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between North Dakota State and SFA, who are two likely conference frontrunners – CLICK HERE

-Virginia and Wisconsin could have played for 120 minutes, and I still don’t think Wiscy would have scored 50 points.  It was the rock fight of all rock fights as Virginia picked up the win to remain unbeaten on the year.

-I wasn’t that big on the Orange of Syracuse, and I realize that they haven’t even crossed the street to play a game yet as they’ve all been at home, but they’ve beaten some good UTR teams rather handily and picked up a win against Maryland last night.  They will be tested later this week when they face Kansas.

-A couple of Under the Radar notes, Lipscomb’s long and frustrating drought against rival Belmont came to an end last night.  After losing two close games a year ago, they finally got over the top with a 74-66 road win in a game where they nearly blew the lead in the final minutes.  This is very damaging to whatever slim hopes Belmont had of landing inside the bubble.  Albany also picked up their first loss at Monmouth.  They led for most of the game, but Monmuth pulled even in the second half and pulled away in the final minutes.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-BAYLOR AT XAVIER.  This is a game between two ranked teams that are looking for their biggest win of the season so far.  Baylor has notable wins over Wisconsin and Creighton, but this is their first true road game.  Xavier also has a win against Wisconsin and is looking to rebound from their loss against Arizona State over the weekend.

-FLORIDA STATE AT RUTGERS (Big Ten/ACC Challenge).  Both teams are unbeaten, but this is Rutgers’s first semblance of a test.

-NORTWESTERN AT GEORGIA TECH (Big Ten/ACC Challenge).  Northwestern is off to a really rough start and could really use a road win on their resume.

-TOLEDO AT KANSAS.  It’s a buy game, but we’ll highlight it because Toledo has two impressive wins this season and if they keep it up they could finish toward the top of the MAC.

-LOUISVILLE AT PURDUE (Big Ten/ACC Challenge).  I get the sense that this is a really important early season game for both teams.  Purdue did get a win over Arizona in the Battle 4 Atlantis, but outside of that it was a really poor showing.  Louisville has devoured some cupcakes, but that’s really all they’ve managed to do after a very tumultuous offseason.  A win like this would be as good of a mental health win as it would be a resume win.

-SOUTH DAKOTA STATE AT OLE MISS.  I’m really looking forward to this one as South Dakota State is one of the frontrunners in the Summit League and Ole Miss is off to a respectable 4-1 start.

-IUPUI AT WESTERN ILLINOIS.  We mention this game only because Western Illinois can improve to an impressive 5-1 on the year with a win.

-UTAH STATE AT VALPARAISO.  Valpo shouldn’t have too much trouble staying perfect on the season.

-WESTERN MICHIGAN AT SAINT LOUIS.  SLU is off to a decent, but not great, start.  They need to hold serve in games like this if they want to be in the discussion come March.

-ILLINOIS AT WAKE FOREST (Big Ten/ACC Challenge).  We weren’t all that excited about the Illini coming into the year, but they are off to a perfect 6-0 start and could pick up their first true road win today.

-IOWA AT VIRGINIA TECH (Big Ten/ACC Challenge).  Iowa has looked so bad this year that I don’t know if “Challenge” is the right word to use for this game.  VA Tech appears to be a solid tournament caliber team and shouldn’t have too much trouble rolling at home.

 

BUY GAMES

-Brown @ Rhode Island
-Savannah State @ Wichita State
-UTVRG @ SMU
-Maine @ Georgetown

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Under the Radar Game of the Day: North Dakota State at Stephen F Austin

Posted on November 28, 2017 by Chad

North Dakota State at Stephen F. Austin, 8:30 PM Eastern, espn3

The Under the Radar Game of the Day is off to Nacogdoches, Texas tonight as a pair of teams that are among the favorites to win their conferences square off, with the Summit League’s North Dakota State Bison in town to take on the Southland’s Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks.  The Bison enter tonight’s game at 3-2, including an impressive road win at Missouri State,  They have been led so far this season by seniors Paul Miller and AJ Jacobson, along with sophomore Tyson Ward.  Miller had a great game last time out, in a win over Stetson, with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists, while Ward added 25 points.

Stephen F. Austin is 5-1 so far this year, only having a 5 point loss at Mississippi State.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that three of their five wins have come against non-Division I foes, while the other two were against Florida A&M and Longwood (perennial sub-300 teams) at home.  With tonight’s game and contests against Louisiana Tech, LSU and Missouri coming up in the next few weeks, we will finally get a much better look at this team and be able to decide just how good they are.  TJ Holyfield is the player to keepa n eye on as he has scored 19 or more points against every D1 foe so far this year, while grabbing at least 7 boards in each game.

NOTE: Don’t forget to check out our latest Hoops HD Report video podcast == just scroll down!!!

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The Hoops HD Report: November 27th

Posted on November 27, 2017 by David Griggs

We are coming off the busiest week of the regular season, and Chad and the panel recap all of the action from last week’s exempt tournaments and other important games.  We saw multiple thrillers in the PK-80 as Duke, Florida, Michigan State, and Gonzaga all picked up several big wins.  Washington State was a huge surprise out in the Wooden Legacy, and the Battle 4 Atlantis was all kinds of upside down as Purdue and Arizona squared off in the 7th place game, and Northern Iowa, Tennessee, Western Kentucky all picked up two notable wins.  The Maui, the NIT, and the Advocare also gave us some huge match ups.  All of that, and much more, as we recap a very busy week of college hoops and look ahead to the upcoming week.

 

And for all you radio lovers, below is an mp3 version of the show…

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Under the Radar Game of the Day: Lipscomb at Belmont (and other news, notes, and games)

Posted on November 27, 2017 by Chad

Lipscomb at Belmont, 7:30 PM Eastern, OVC Digital Network

It is time, once again, for the first round of this year’s Battle of the Boulevard!  This rivalry, between two schools separated by just a few miles in Nashville, dates back to 1953, with Lipscomb holding a 73-67 series lead.  The two teams still meet twice every season, despite being in different conferences, and both games were nail-biters pulled out by Belmont last season.  In fact, Belmont has now won 11 straight games in this series, having won every single game since Casey Alexander (a former player and assistant at Belmont for their head coach Rick Byrd) took over as head coach at Lipscomb.

Belmont enters today’s game at 4-2 on the season, coming off of a game that they lost at Providence on a buzzer-beating three-pointer.  Dylan Windler had a great effort in that loss, scoring a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.  Lipscomb enters tonight’s matchup at 3-2, with the losses having come at Alabama and at Texas.  Their last game, a win over Abilene Christian, featured 17 points from Rob Marberry and 13 rebounds from Eli Pepper.  However stats and records will not matter tonight.  Tonight is all about one of our favorite Under the Radar rivalries, and the game should once again be a great one!

 

OTHER NEWS AND NOTES

-We are coming off what was the busiest week of the season.  The PK-80 gave us multiple games that will likely impact who ends up as protected seeds, and even who ends up as #1 seeds.  Texas came up just short on two occasions where they had a chance to get a big win, and although they came up empty I think they showed that it is within their capability and they’ll win some big games this year.  We saw the emergence of a good UTR team in Northern Iowa, and a rough start for teams like Arizona and Purdue.  We also have our surprise team of the year (at least so far) in Wazzu!!  I didn’t think they’d win as many games all season as they’ve already won in November.  We will be going over all of this on tonight’s HOOPS HD REPORT, so be sure and tune in (or download) it either tonight or tomorrow.

OTHERHIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-MARYLAND AT SYRACUSE (Big Ten/ACC Challenge).  I hate that Maryland is playing Syracuse and not Duke.  Having said that, Syracuse comes into this game at 5-0 and while their wins have been in buy games, they’ve actually come in convincing fashion against good UTR teams, so I’m not going to entirely discredit what they’ve done.  Maryland could really use a road win like this to help legitimize their resume, so it’s a good game for both teams.

-WISCONSIN AT VIRGINIA (Big Ten/ACC Challenge).  Yet again, Virginia is exceeding expectations.  I’m starting to think that Tony Bennett is pretty good.  They are coming off an impressive showing in the NIT and are now at 6-0.  Wiscy’s start has been a little more rocky.  I think they’ll get it turned around eventually.  A win tonight would certainly get it going in that direction.

-SOUTH CAROLINA AT FIU.  Reverse buy game??  Well, they say you need road wins.  This is perhaps the easiest way to get them.

-ALBANY AT MONMOUTH.  This is not the easiest road game even though Monmouth is rebuilding and has struggled early.  This would be Albany’s 4th true road win if they’re able to pick this up.  You can’t completely ignore that.

-Saint Mary’s MD (nondiv1) @ Towson – buy game
-Alabama State @ Cincinnati – buy game
-UMES @ Old Dominion – buy game
-Eastern Illinois @ Marquette – buy game
-UT Dallas (nondiv1) @ UT Arlington – buy game

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Bracket Projection: Monday, November 27th

Posted on November 27, 2017 by John Stalica

Now that we have passed the Thanksgiving checkpoint, it is time for someone other than David Griggs to post a checkpoint bracket based on the past week’s results. This is not a belief of where teams will end up (see: Arizona State, Washington State – how was your weekend?), but rather what they have accomplished so far (or not).

It was a disaster of a week for Arizona, for example, with 3 losses out in Atlantis. However, one of their notable players missed all 3 games. This is eerily reminiscent of Wichita State finishing dead last in the 2015 Advocare Invitational – thankfully, they finished their season in the NCAA Tournament. Teams like Louisville were considered, but all they’ve won so far are buy games in the friendly confines of their home court. We’ll know a little more about them after their game at Purdue and subsequent game versus Seton Hall, for example. Teams like Syracuse and Michigan have also played exclusively buy games, but at least they’ve played a few notable ones (i.e. Iona and Oakland for Syracuse, Central Michigan for Michigan).

So, without further ado, here is the bracket for this week:

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Under the Radar Game of the Day: Brown at Bryant

Posted on November 26, 2017 by Chad

Brown at Bryant, 6:00 PM Eastern, necfrontrow.com

The Rhode Island-Providence rivalry is one of our favorites in college basketball, and has produced some incredibly fun and exciting games the past few years.  The Ocean State’s other two Division I schools, Brown and Bryant, while not quite as heated of a matchup, have also produced some very memorable moments.  Case in point was last year’s finish, when Bryant’s Ikenna Ndugba mistakenly thought his team was up a point and not down one and dribbled out the clock instead of getting a final shot away.  You can watch the crazy finish to that game right here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKDiPWmlJQQ

 

This evening, the teams play on Bryant’s home floor in our Under the Radar Game of the Day, and Ndugba and his teammates will look for redemption against their in-state rivals.  Brown enters today’s game at 3-2 on the season with one of those wins (Quinnipiac) having come on the road.  Travis Fuller had a huge game last time out against LIU-Brooklyn, scoring 14 points and pulling down 11 rebounds, while Desmond Cambridge added 9 points and 9 boards and Brandon Anderson came off the bench to score 24.  Bryant is 1-4 so far this year, having picked up their lone win last time out at Hartford.  Ndugba led the way in that win, being one of four players in double digits in scoring while pulling down 10 rebounds for the double-double.  He should have redemption on his mind tonight, and another big game from the sophomore would not be a shock at all.

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